Emma Nelson
Emma Nelson (b. June 1989) is a student at Degrassi Community School in Toronto, Canada. In Degrassi High, she is portrayed by Miriam McDonald in Degrassi:The Next Generation. Emma is the daughter of Spike Nelson and Shane McKay. Her step-father is Snake Simpson, and her half-brother is Jack Simpson. Early life Emma was born to Christine Nelson and Shane McKay in 1989. Both of them were teenagers when Christine, who went by Spike, got pregnant. Shane and Spike broke-up, but Spike made him pay child support. After a Gourmet Scum concert, Shane became mentally ill, and was unable to raise Emma. At age two, Emma visited her father at the hospital he was staying at. After that, Spike kept Emma away. Season 1 Emma was one of the only main characters of the series to appear in the two-part pilot, "Mother and Child Reunion." Serving both as a reunion special for the old Degrassi cast and a new spin-off beginning, the plot in these two episodes alternated between the old cast's issues and Emma's meeting with her supposedly young online crush, Jordan. Jordan, whom Emma had been speaking to online for months, appeared to have the same interests as her and to be equally passionate about saving the environment. Unfortunately, Jordan turned out to be a man in his 40s who attempted to film the rape of Emma in a hotel room. Emma's mother, Spike, and her friend Snake came to her rescue at the last minute. In Coming of Age, the 9th episode of the season 1, Emma had her first period, embarrassingly, at school. Luckily, Manny discovered the leak before anyone else did, dragging her best friend into the bathroom and tracking down a pair of over sized gym shorts for Emma to wear the rest of the day. Unfortunately, Emma was slated to present a book report in English in front of the entire class that day. While awkwardly trying to explain the book and hold up the large pants, JT makes a crack and asks if Emma wet her pants. Emma announces matter-of-factly that she got her period. At first, bad boy Sean Cameron, a year older than Emma, seemed a complete mismatch for her. The two quickly began talking, however. While their first date was disastrous, and was followed by a series of strange mishaps, the two decided they liked each other too much to stop dating each other. This began their infamous on-again, off-again relationship, one that had euphoric highs and abysmal lows. Fearing he failed his midterms, Sean let his stress and anger get the better of him and got into a tussle outside of the school with Jimmy Brooks. Emma, trying to break up the fight, angered Sean even more, who pushed her to the ground to get her away from the fight. Shocked, Emma broke up with Sean. Sean attended Ashley Kerwin and Toby's disastrous party at the end of the year, but only because JT mentioned Emma would be there. Though he attempted to talk to her, Emma paid no attention, running to the arms of Toby, possibly to make Sean jealous. She did not know that Toby had had a serious crush on her for most of the year. It was only later, on the episode "The Mating Game", that her friend Manny told her. Emma becomes a feminist at Degrassi Community School. She berated the Spirit Squad as "sexist," and chided Manny for wanting to try out. Though her true motive was that she hated the idea of Manny being more popular than her. Emma also started to favor the extreme group PETA. Season 2 When Emma learn her mom and her teacher were dating she was annoyed but learned to deal with it. When the wedding came closer trouble showed up when Spike found out she was pregnant. Spike knew Snake didn't want children right away and considered abortion. Emma, upset, told Snake which almost ruined the relationship but all worked out as Snake and Spike got married. At the wedding reception Emma and Sean got backed together but when Sean shows off his poor manners Emma was akward and then went to Jimmy's house with Sean after he drank some Vodka. At the party at Jimmy's he had more alcohol and ruined the party. But Emma and Sean stayed together and Spike and Snake forgave him. Emma continued misguided use of protests for everything that isn't exactly how she likes it with a boycott of genetically modified food in the cafeteria, handing out fliers and information on why it was wrong. After being told by Mr. Raditch why she was wrong about the caf, Emma decided to use the morning announcements for her own extremist agenda. Her ploy to "boycott the caf" backfired when she initiated the students to start a food fight. For causing the fight, Emma was suspended for a day. Instead of backing down, however, Emma continued her tirade, getting her suspended for a week. Season 3 Emma was being mistaken for Snake's daughter at school. This launched her desire to meet her biological father. After asking Spike about him and getting nowhere, Emma decided to find him herself, using the Internet to find listings for Shane McKay (her father's name). The next day, she skipped school along with Craig to search for him. After a series of missteps, Emma and Craig finally found him at a home for the mentally disabled. After falling (or jumping) off a bridge during the original Degrassi Junior High series, Shane landed on his head, causing permanent brain damage. His parents placed him in the home. After Emma and Shane's emotional reunion is cut short by a nurse, Emma gives him her address so he can write to her. Forced to call Joey for a ride home after missing the last train, Emma faces her irate mother. While Emma was angry at her mother for lying to her, she eventually came to see that Spike was just trying to protect her. While Spike, nine months pregnant, was at home knitting a scarf for the baby, Shane unexpectedly arrived at the house. He pushed his way in and flew into a rage upon discovering that he wasn't a part of Spike and Emma's new family. Emma arrived home just as Shane was trashing the house and Spike went into labor. Emma calmed down Shane with an ultimatum ("If you hurt my mom, I'll never speak to you again") and then called Snake. Emma's half-brother, Jack, was born healthy and happy. Manny's new look and personality put Emma off; she thought Manny was cheapening herself for popularity and told her as much. Manny was appalled that Emma would refuse to support her the way Manny had always done for Emma. The two continued to be friends, however, until Emma walked in on Manny making out with Craig, who was dating Ashley Kerwin, on Emma's bed. The next day, as Manny tried to apologize, Emma wouldn't hear it. Manny called Emma a "prude princess" and Emma retorted that at least she wasn't "the school slut". Manny and Emma would mostly remain distant at best, and frictious at worst, until late in Season 4. Emma, dealing with the revelation that Snake had cancer and the pressures of having to watch the baby, had little time for Sean anymore. Feeling neglected, Sean began taking up with Jay Hogart, his girlfriend Alex Nuñez, and Towerz. Emma was less than pleased with Sean's affiliation with this group of thugs, but wrote it off long enough to make out with Sean in the ravine while they were supposed to be clearing it of trash. The romantic moment was cut short by fellow volunteer Kendra Mason, who quickly ran off after discovering the two. Emma, however, was embarrassed, and got back to work, leaving Sean annoyed. Afterward, Sean confronted Emma about being too uptight, upon which Emma called Sean "pathetic" for hanging with people like Jay. Trying to reconcile the relationship, Emma was shot down by Sean and gave up on their relationship for good. To add insult to injury, Sean helped his new friends steal Snake's brand new laptop so that Jay could get an intake for his car. This was, once again, not the last time Sean and Emma would date. A new student named Chris Sharpe caught Emma's eye while she was rebounding from her relationship with Sean. She felt too nerdy to date him, but Manny helped sex up her image in time for a rave that Chris was DJing at. Though they had a private romantic moment and even kissed, Emma wouldn't date Chris because he was still with his girlfriend. Emma did eventually date Chris, however, over the summer between freshman and sophomore years. Snake's cancer took a toll on everyone in Emma's family. Once, while doing some work on the computers after school with JT, Emma discovered Snake's will. Convinced Snake's chemotherapy had failed, Emma buckled under the overwhelming stress. Alex, who had been tormenting Emma since her breakup with Sean, offended the younger student, causing the typically mild-mannered Emma to engage her tormentor in a violent catifght in the halls of Degrassi. Later, Emma discovers Snake's chemo had actually put his cancer in remission. Season 4 Emma and Chris broke up over the summer, but he was still talking to her. Liberty had shown an interest in Chris, which resulted in Emma finding out. She decided to prevent Chris from going on a date with Liberty because she was too worried about what people would think of her if Chris went out with Liberty next. Liberty eventually figured out what Emma was trying to pull and told her, "It's easy for me, letting you go—straight to hell." However, it became apparent that Chris wasn't looking for a serious relationship with Liberty. As Emma entered 10th grade, she became friends with Paige and her friends. When Rick returned to Degrassi, she and Paige thought up ideas to make Rick's life hell and force him to leave Degrassi. After protesting for "Students Against Violence", Emma and Paige were able to make the school body despise Rick. In an attempt to buy forgiveness, Rick approached Emma with a cheque for $500 for the cause. This caused Emma to pity Rick, although she denied it in the public eye. To prove to her new friends—and specifically Paige—that she wasn't softening towards Rick, Emma purposely tripped Rick at The Dot, causing him to spill coffee over himself. Rick then became angry, so Jay began to beat him up. A guilt-ridden Emma then intervened and stopped the fight, and her actions caused her to lose her new friends. After saving Rick from bullying, Emma, along with old friend Toby, became Rick's only pals in the school. Rick developed a crush on Emma, however, and she shot his advances down brutally. After being humiliated on live TV, Rick came to Degrassi with a gun. While he tried to shoot Emma for not accepting his crush on her, Sean stopped him and, in the struggle, Rick was shot and killed with his own gun. On a particularly rough day, Emma ditched class with Sean, Sean's new girlfriend Ellie Nash and Jay to drive up to Wasaga Beach, where Sean's parents lived. Emma seemed to be reconnecting with Sean when he announced he was moving back home with his parents, leaving her angry and upset though he'd asked her to stay there with him, effectively ending his relationship with Ellie. In the aftermath of the shooting and Sean's departure, Emma became melancholy and isolate, distancing herself from everything in her life (it could be inferred she was suffering a small case of post-traumatic stress disorder). Jay seemed to have taken a liking to Emma, even though he was still dating Alex. At the same time, the now-mischievous Emma discovered what Alex's best friend Amy's colorful bracelets meant. Girls "earned" bracelets for performing different sex acts down at the ravine. Emma met Jay at the ravine to see what it was like. After seeing to couples getting out of a van, Jay and her went inside. Jay kissed her, and she didn't know it was to help with blow-jobs. Emma left, but Jay grabbed her by the arm, and gave her a green bracelet. After leaving Amy confused about the bracelet, and why Emma was doing that, Jay told Emma that Amy "earned" one from him. She thought she was a loser, so Emma performed oral sex on Jay and used the shooting as an excuse to keep her parents from reprimanding her when they'd found out she was sneaking out in the middle of the night; after successfully manipulating her mother and stepfather, she would go to sleep with a smirk on her face as she proudly admired her new bracelets. Alex comes to the rehersal and punches Amy, and said she was going to get who ever was sleeping with Jay. Manny found out, with Emma scared as a baby. She soon realizes she has contracted gonorrhea and is humiliated when Manny finds out and tells Emma's co-star in the school play not to kiss her or risk getting the disease. Word spread. Emma had a girl's night with Manny and her new friends Darcy Edwards and Chante Black to help herself get over it, and began an innocent flirtation with her new next door neighbor, Chester Hosoda. Chris was hurt by Emma's racy and ill-lived relationship with Jay and by her contracting gonorrhea, but covered for it by making rude and sly comments in Media Immersions class during the student-teacher Matt Oleander's lecture. Season 5 At the beginning of season 5, Emma developed a crush on a new boy, Peter Stone. However, he seemed more attracted to Manny than Emma. At a party that he invited them to, Manny got drunk and flashed her breasts to Peter, who filmed them and later emailed the video to the entire school, after she rejected him. When Emma discovered this video, she knew who had taken it, and was furious at Manny for doing such a thing, and upset with Peter for taking advantage of Manny and humiliating her. After Manny's parents kicked her out, Emma took pity on her, and allowed her to move in with her. Later, Peter began following Emma around, smooth-talking her. She initially rejected his advances, because of what he did to Manny, but could not help but enjoy how he made her feel special. Confused about her feelings toward him, and unable to tell Manny what was wrong, she planned a revenge with Manny, that would involve her seducing Peter at a party, stripping him, and taking embarrassing photos of him with her camera phone. However, the plan backfired when they made out in his room, and she discovered he had no private space. She could relate to this, since she had to live in the basement and doesn't have private space either. They start dating in secret. After the premiere of Kevin Smith's movie, "Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh?," Peter and Emma snuck into the empty theater to make out. In there they discovered Snake and Ms. Hatzilakos making out. At home Emma confronts Snake, telling him that she didn't know if she would tell Spike or not. The following day, after she arrived home from school, her mother became concerned that she was sick. When Snake arrived home, he had sold his motorcycle to buy tickets to Mexico. Spike was ecstatic, saying she didn't "deserve such a perfect husband." Emma angrily told them to stop it, and Snake was forced to confess. Spike and Snake went upstairs to argue, and Spike chewed Snake out for not considering Emma's feelings, and kicked him out of the house. Emma tried to convince him to stay, but he said he needed to stay at Joey's house for a while to figure out what had gone wrong. Emma having a panic attack.Ever since Snake left, Spike and Manny became more dependent on Emma to help around the house. After Manny begged Emma to help her lose weight so she could fit in her jeans again and so she could get an agent, Emma put both of them on a strict diet. They successfully restrained themselves for two days, then gorged themselves on vegetable moussaka after Emma invited Snake over in an unsuccessful attempt to reunite him with her mother. Emma was upset that they had undone all their dieting so quickly, and convinced herself and Manny to get rid of it by vomiting. After few days of strict dieting, Emma catches Manny in the hallway eating pizza. Emma tries to get Manny to purge it up in the bathroom, but Manny tells her that her jeans still fit and that one piece of pizza won't kill her. Manny ran out of the bathroom, Emma tried to follow, but since she hadn't eaten in days she got dizzy and fainted. Later that night, Manny found Emma cutting out photos of thin models from magazines. Manny, who got the agent, told Emma that she heard about what happened in the hall earlier voiced her concerns about Emma's eating habits, and found out that she hadn't eaten anything for a couple of days. Emma was convinced that she looked "gross" and "disgusting". Emma promised that she would eat when Snake brought over dinner again. Emma ate the food happily, but snuck off during the meal to purge herself. It had been weeks and Emma was still continuing these eating habits, Manny found Emma's food diary and said she was going to show it to Emma's mom. To stop Manny from revealing her secret, Emma told Manny about her relationship with Peter, and then blames the secret and her concern for Manny's feelings as the reason for her eating disorder. Manny discontinues her concern for Emma who responds with an equal amount of distaste for her former friend. The next day, Manny warns Peter about Emma's mysterious eating habits, right after they kissed in front of the front steps of Degrassi, going completely public with their relationship. Emma had been seeing Peter more often before she told Manny about them, and that gave Peter the chance to notice Emma's strange behaviour too. Peter tells Manny about his concerns and despite the animosity between Manny and Peter, the two team-up to tackle Emma's problem by informing Spike and Snake, who had since reconciled. When the four of them confront Emma with an intervention, she runs to the basement and suffers from a starvation-induced panic attack, leaving her unconscious. She awoke in the hospital and Spike told Emma she is diagnosed as anorexic and possibly bulimic too. Season 6 After the school shooting, Sean left Degrassi for a while, but soon returned. After an illegal street race, Emma and Sean managed to escape the cops and then made out, despite Emma's relationship with Peter. At school, drugs were found in Sean's locker. He accused Peter, but Emma denied Peter's role in the crime. Sean was later involved in a hit-and-run, which occurred during a race between himself and Peter. When Sean went to Emma for help, she told him that she didn't care about him. As a result, Sean turned himself in to the cops. Emma is later informed by Jay about Sean's troubles, and that he is going to court. Emma then attempts to raise money for a proper lawyer for Sean's case, but fails and finds a public defender instead. After discovering that it was Peter who planted the drugs in Sean's locker, she breaks up with him. Emma and Sean later become close once again, and finally decide to have sex while Emma's parents are away for the weekend. The same weekend, however, Manny plans a party at Emma's house, so Sean and Emma's plans are halted. Emma becomes intoxicated at the event and spends the night throwing up. Sean is understanding about the situation and even finds it comical. When J.T. Yorke was killed by a Lakehurst student, Emma became angry at Manny, who acted as if it had never happened. Emma is later confronted by Snake and admits that she's upset that J.T. is dead and angry because everyone is moving on. Snake points out that everyone is angry but that she can't turn that anger towards Manny. Emma and Manny later reconcile. Sean and Emma's relationship has been going perfect and they decided to take things to the next level...for real. However, trouble comes when Snake runs into Emma and Sean buying birth control at a drug store. Emma tells her step-father that she and her mother had "the talk" already, but Snake gets angry because he is never included in these types of discussions. Emma attempts to talk to her step-father, but he refuses to listen. A few days later, Emma delivers a presentation in Snake's class about women and sex and how men, when confronted with sex, can't handle it at all. She mentioned that all guys have this ideal of women being perfect pure angels but as soon as they did anything remotely sexual they were instantly sluts. After seeing her presentation, Snake tells her that he was just remembering how life was when she was young, and how hard it would be to let Emma go. Soon, Emma suspects that she's pregnant from Sean. When she learns that Sean had different plans after high school,to join the army services she becomes really angry and after him asking her what's up several times, she confesses to him that she might be pregnant. After several tests, Emma learns that she's not pregnant. Sean leaves for basic training soon after. Season 7 On their way to Degrassi, Emma tells Manny that she feels worried, because Sean had not written to her yet and she had not received a letter from the university she had applied to. When they arrive at school, they discover that the energy drink Purple Dragon has taken over Degrassi to sponsor the upcoming badminton tournament. Damian Hayes runs into them and tells Emma that Purple Dragon was recruiting Degrassi girls to be their spokes models. Later that day, Liberty calls for a meeting to discuss the effects of Purple Dragon in the school politics and suggested boycotting the model’s recruiting. Upon hearing this, Emma says “If you want to change the face of Purple Dragon, be the face of Purple Dragon”, implying that she wants to become one of the models. During the selection process, Manny, Holly J, Liberty and Emma try out, but only Emma is chosen to be one of the models. After becoming a model, Emma decided to thank Damien for giving her the idea by kissing him in public. This causes Natasha, the leader of the Purple Dragon girls, to ask her to not interact with the customers that way. Noting to possibly keep it to a kiss on the cheek, if anything. The next day, "Bruce the Moose" comes on to her, touching her shoulders and hair, implying that he wanted to feel her up (along with other things). Emma throws the drink she was offering on him, and yelled at him not to touch her. Natasha once again told her that she needed to work on her attitude if she wanted to remain as a model. When she was changing her clothes at the end of the day, Emma was about to drink some Purple Dragon, but Natasha informed her of the high calorie count in the drink. Natasha also warns Emma that she is wearing the largest size of dress and that she needs to watch her weight. During the end of the tournament, Emma criticizes Purple Dragon and, after Natasha tells her that she wasn’t allowed to speak like that while she was wearing the purple dress, she takes off her dress, leaving her standing butt naked in front of the entire audience. Later, Snake tells her that Ms. Hatzilakos had decided to not give her a suspension since she was proud of Emma for taking a stand, so she only had to have two detentions for violating the dress code. In season seven Emma also had to deal with Snake's false accusation of sexual harassment. In "Live to Tell" she was very angry at Darcy for falsely accusing her stepfather. Later, in "Got My Mind Set On You," Emma was upset because the accusations effected her at school, and she turned to Damien. They began a relationship in this episode, meaning that her and Sean must have broken up sometime between "Hungry Eyes" and this episode. Later, however, in "Another Brick in the Wall," Emma seemed to have a change of heart on the whole situation. She actually asked Darcy to help her to get Mr. Simpson to come back to school, and was very supportive of him. This was most apparent at the end of the episode when her mother leaves for a little while, and Emma chooses to stay with her stepfather because she felt he needed her. Emma and Manny are both accepted into their respective programmes of study at Smithdale University and submit the forms to room together in the dormitories. Mr. Simpson finally returns to school for good in the episode "Everything She Wants." However, Sean also came back for a visit in this episode before being shipped off to Afghanistan for war. They did not get back together, but Sean did ask Emma for a new photo showing a possible spark between the two. In the season finale, Emma finds out from Toby that Liberty was making out with her latest boyfriend Damien during their Senior Prom whilst everyone was in the pool. Liberty is left distraught after everyone finds out, and it wasn't until she delivered her valedictory speech that Emma, Manny, and Toby forgive her. Emma tells Liberty that she dumped Damien and that she isn't ready to throw away six years of friendship. After they received their diplomas, the four of them visit J.T.'s memorial, whereupon Toby places someone's graduation cap next to J.T.'s portrait and Liberty (the mother of J.T.'s child) moves the tassel to the (wearer's) right to symbolically include their late classmate with their graduating class. Season 8 Emma is now in Smithdale University with her two best friends Manny and Liberty, while a new guy, Kelly, is their new roommate. She is also surprised at much length Liberty is going to join the Pi Gamma Pi Sorority. Emma and Manny stood beside Liberty when she had to have her stomach pumped. Emma, being a good friend, stood beside her decision to not join the sorority. In Lost in Love Emma and her roommate Kelly finally go out on a date Relationships *Sean Cameron **First Relationship: ***Start Up: "Friday Night" (111) ***Broke Up: "Under Pressure" (114) ****Reason: Emma is shoved by Sean after attempting to interfere in his fight with Jimmy. **Second Relationship: ***Start Up: "White Wedding, Part 2" (213) ***Broke Up: "Gangsta Gangsta" (306) ****Reason: Sean begins hanging out with Jay, and Emma disapproves. **Third Relationship: **Start Up: "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (608) **Broke Up: Some point between "Hungry Eyes" (709) and "Everything She Wants" (721) ***Reason: Emma moved on to Damien. *'Chris Sharpe' **Start Up: "This Charming Man" (313) **Broke Up: Summer before "Ghost in the Machine, Part 1" (401) ***Reason: Unexplained. *Peter Stone **Start Up: "Tell It To My Heart" (509) **Broke Up: "True Colors" (603) ***Reason: Peter frames Sean for possession of marijuana. *Damien Hayes **Start Up:' "Got My Mind Set On You"' (715) **Broke Up:' "We Built This City"' (724) ***Reason: Damian cheated on Emma with Liberty. * Kelly Ashoona **Start Up: "Lost in Love Pt. 1" (808) Nelson, Emma Nelson, Emma